Elon Musk announced that Twitter would suspend accounts that engage in impersonation after multiple celebrities attempted to mock the billionaire.
Musk tweeted the update to the company’s content moderation on Sunday. The ban arose after several actors, including Kathy Griffin and Sarah Silverman, changed their profiles to impersonate Musk to mock him. The decision arises days after Musk promised to delay company content moderation decisions by several weeks.
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“Going forward, any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying “parody” will be permanently suspended,” Musk tweeted. “Previously, we issued a warning before the suspension, but now that we are rolling out widespread verification, there will be no warning.” Musk also noted that any changes to a user’s name would cause them to lose their verified checkmark.
Going forward, any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying “parody” will be permanently suspended
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 6, 2022
Twitter’s content moderation policy already had rules on “parody, commentary and fan accounts,” but Musk’s decision appears to toughen the penalties. The company’s policy previously had Twitter warn the offending account about the breach before permanently suspending it.
Musk made news last week when he proposed that Twitter charge $8 a month to verify a user. The company was expected to change its content moderation rules after Musk’s takeover, but the billionaire delayed the decision until after a content moderation committee was formed.
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Twitter laid off half of its staff on Friday in an effort to cut costs to account for the interest rate connected to Musk’s loan for purchasing Twitter. The billionaire faces a class-action lawsuit from the team over allegations that the layoffs violated federal law.
